The latest news, sport, travel and weather across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.

Anthony Russell is to appear before magistrates following deaths in Coventry and Leamington Spa.

People in Dudley, Staffordshire and Telford move into tier two on Saturday.

Arkadiusz Kacmarek is jailed after stabbing his housemate to death in an unexplained drunken frenzy.

Anthony Russell is suspected of killing a mother and son in Coventry and a woman in Leamington.

BBC Weather

Cloudy and wet with outbreaks of rain. Feeling mild with brisk winds and a high of 16C/61F.

Image source, BBC Weather Watcher Dammo

More rain is forecast this evening and overnight and it could be heavy at times. The winds will turn stronger. Low: 12C/54F.

You can get a latest forecast for your area at any time by going to the BBC Weather website.

A Leek pub assistant manager says he thinks new restrictions could have a "very big impact" ahead of Staffordshire moving into tier two – high alert from 00:01 on Saturday.

Image source, Google

Under tier two, households are no longer be able to mix indoors.

Assistant manager at The Fountain Inn Trevor Emery has said its chain would decide whether the pub stays open.

But he said revenue was probably about 75% of that before lockdown and the pub had done "well" under the circumstances.

"We would love to stay open, but we've got to make sure we're turning in a profit for the chain," he said.

"We have families coming in [not from the same household]. It'll probably be one or two to a table."

Image source, Google

Manager at The New Inn in Flash Diane Phillips said she did not think it would affect her much.

"[It's] a very small little pub in a village, so households don't meet up... It's not like a town pub," she said.

But the pub is in the highest village in England, 1518ft above sea level, and Ms Phillips said she didn't think anyone would be drinking out doors anytime soon.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Ethan Davies

Work to replace a retirement complex destroyed in a fire could begin soon, according to developers.

Image source, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

The apartments at Beechmere, Crewe, were destroyed in a blaze which swept through the building in August 2019.

Plans for its replacement, to sit on the same site with the same number of bedrooms, have been approved this week by Cheshire East Council.

Image source, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

The proposals include several fire safety improvements such as an integrated sprinkler system, wider corridors and more masonry in the construction.

Juno Planning’s Nigel Murray, representing developers Avantage, said they could start building soon.

"We have a contract ready to start and a price agreed with contractors. We want to get those residents back in their homes and want to put them back where they belong.”

Allen Cook
BBC News

With all the talk of parts of the West Midlands expecting to move into higher tiers in terms of Covid restrictions, we thought we'd just remind you of how the tier areas stand as of right now.

At the moment there are no areas in tier three.

In tier two - also referred to as "high" alert level - on Thursday morning there are:

• Birmingham
• Coventry
• Sandwell
• Solihull
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Walsall
• Wolverhampton

While in tier one - or "medium" alert level:

• Dudley
• Herefordshire
• Shropshire
• Staffordshire
• Telford and Wrekin
• Warwickshire
• Worcestershire

This is a fast-changing situation though so in future, to find out what the rules are in your area, you can go to this BBC webpage and enter your postcode.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Here are three of the stories covered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service in Staffordshire today:

• A south Staffordshire timber company is looking to create 50 new jobs with plans for a bigger factory. Prime Oak makes structures such as conservatories and orangeries.
• Residents fear plans to close a number of car parking areas on Cannock Chase and introduce charges in others will be rushed through ahead of the Commonwealth Games. It's going to host mountain biking events in 2022.
• The owners have of a Grade II listed home near Milwich have been refused retrospective permission for alterations made 30 years ago, by a previous owner.

BBC Weather

It will turn more cloudy today with outbreaks of rain expected this morning before getting lighter and patchier this afternoon. Brisk winds and a high of 14C/57F.

Image source, BBC Weather Watcher StorytellerK

A few spots of rain will be around this evening too before things turn drier in the first half of the night followed by patchy rain later on. Low: 13C/55F.

You can get a forecast for your area at any time by going to the BBC Weather website.

Staffordshire's director of health has said the rising coronavirus numbers in the south of the county have been "distorted by a couple of big outbreaks in two of the prisons".

Dr Richard Harling said between them, they account for up to a third of the cases there.

Nevertheless, case numbers excluding the prisons are rising too, and Dr Harling said he hoped a move to tier two restrictions soon would "dampen that down".

He is expecting to hear tomorrow whether the county will have stricter controls imposed by the government and is expecting the answer to be "yes".

Elizabeth Glinka
BBC Politics Midlands

We're hearing that Telford has been recommended for tier two coronavirus restrictions, alongside Staffordshire and Dudley.

It would mean no mixing households indoors.

An official announcement is expected tomorrow.

Tier two restrictions for Staffordshire are most likely to be introduced "early on Saturday morning", Staffordshire's director of health and care has said.

Dr Richard Harling said he believed the government was making a decision today and it would mean households won't be able to mix indoors.

Image source, Staffordshire County Council

Dr Harling also said the local authority had been expecting this move for weeks, because of the accelerating number of coronavirus cases.

More areas of the West Midlands are waiting to hear if they'll be moved up to tier two coronavirus restrictions, but the decision is based on more than just the infection rate.

We asked the Department of Health to explain what is taken into account. It indicated that the reasons include:

• Number and increase of coronavirus cases
• The positivity rate (or the percentage of tests that come back positive)
• Pressures on the NHS
• Which age groups are being infected

We aren't given all the figures the government uses, but the decision could also be influenced by the control the local authority has and who is being infected.

For instance, if a high number of infections were within a university campus, but there was little chance of it spreading to the wider community and the risk to those catching it are low, then the risk level might not be raised.

There's a BBC article explaining what we know about the thinking behind the decisions.

Coronavirus cases in the South Staffordshire district have risen again, new figures show, after yesterday's news the whole county could move into tier two as early as the weekend.

The rate of new cases in South Staffordshire rose to 364.7 per 100,000 people for the week up to 23 October, up from 172.5 for the previous seven days.

That makes it the highest in the West Midlands, despite currently being in the lowest, tier one category.

Stoke-on-Trent is already in tier two, with 283.2 new cases per 100,000 people for the week up to 23 October, up from 173.2.

In the same period, Blackburn with Darwen, in tier one, had the highest rate in England, with 785.6 new infections per 100,000 people.

BBC Weather

We're forecast more showers but there could be some dry spells too.

The temperature could reach 14C (57F) and more rain is forecast tomorrow.

Image source, Dammo

Households will not be able to mix indoors, in line with restrictions elsewhere in the West Midlands.

BBC Weather

Most of us are forecast a dry and overcast night, with some light wind.

And it should stay that way tomorrow morning, with some showers later in the day.

Temperatures overnight are expected to fall to about 5C (41F).

Image source, David 007

Daniel Sharples inflicted "horrific violence" on Michael Mairs in an unprovoked attack.